Jail term for 'ruthless' loan shark

A ruthless loan shark who made £2.9 million by charging more than 2,400% interest has been given a five-year prison term for blackmail.

John Kiely, 36, of in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, was jailed at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

Judge Adrian Smith told multi-millionaire Kiely: "It's clear to me you are a ruthless individual who has displayed a high degree of criminal sophistication."

One victim, Donna Ockerby, borrowed £300 from John Kiely, 36, to pay for her wedding dress two years ago, the court was told.

Kiely - known as Johnny Boy - dispensed the money from a roll of £20 notes from his black Range Rover, complete with the personalised number plate B0Y.

Auxiliary nurse Mrs Ockerby, 45, told the jury Kiely pursued her when she struggled to repay her debt because her working hours were cut. She said she thought "he was capable of anything" when he grabbed her, pressed his face to hers and said: "I am Johnny Boy Kiely and don't forget it."

Another time he banged on her door early in the morning to renegotiate the terms of the loan. Mrs Ockerby told the jury she feared for her life when a concrete block was thrown at her window just hours after a debt collector called. She was so frightened she moved away from her home in Openshaw, Manchester, to a secret location.

The jury heard Kiely charged up to 2,437% interest on loans and used an army of enforcers to collect debts owed by poor families on Manchester housing estates.

Prosecutor Ben Mills told the jury that Kiely, who has a conviction for assaulting a customer, made a profit of £2.9 million in the five years leading up to his arrest in October last year.

Mr Mills said he began working as an illegal loan shark in 2003, and started the unlicensed money lending company Project Finance UK Ltd two years later because it was more tax-efficient. Kiely set up Millennium Finance Ltd last year after obtaining a licence from the Office of Fair Trading.